Four Finishes, Progress on More, and a Trip to Ohio!

The rainbow scrap challenge color for July is purple.  I love making both these blocks.  Log Cabin Love above and Butterfly Bush below.  Both patterns from Quiltmaker's "Addicted to Scraps" column by Bonnie Hunter.

I sent three of my quilts to New River to be quilted by Melissa.  She does a great job and has a quick turnaround time.  Kathy made this top but I bound it.  Was hoping to surprise her for her birthday but she busted me binding it!  She is the Patriots fan in this house.

This is my modern medallion.  I designed this one myself a few years ago but got stumped and decided it was done and was a wall hanging.  Got lots of compliments on it on facebook which surprised me.  

This one was the mystery from New Year's--Merry Mayhem's Ups and Downs with my own border copied from Bonnie's Scrappy Mountain Majesties.  The quilting is beautiful.  This one will be gifted to my best friend Monica and her husband Bob. They already have one large and one mini quilt from me both in blues and browns but this one is a Christmas quilt.  

I also quilted a baptist fan on my free little mini quilt from Kathleen Tracy's page.  Love a small project and pretty happy with how it came out.  

                                        

We took a quick weekend trip to Ohio last weekend.  It about did me in since travelling and not being able to control how much I lay down makes me so much more fatigued.  Even just sitting takes it out of me.  We do not plan to do it again unless I improve significantly, but we had not seen our oldest son and his wife and six kids, and two grandkids.  We spent time with them bowling and them swimming and eating together.  We were so glad to meet the two newest members of the family and see the rest.  Here is the whole crew (Kathy is taking the picture).

 

Ups and Downs is a Flimsy!

I have about a third of the blocks left for clue six of R Trail.  Making progress and on track for the next clue Friday.  Hoping it is not the reveal as we have a lot left to go!

I purposely made this quilt my #12 UFO since that was the first pull in the American Patchwork and Quilting UFO draw.  I decided to copy Bonnie's border on her Scrappy Mountain Majesties instead of a plain border or more mountains around the outside.  I would have loved the mountains, but I would have had to make another whole set of them.  So yay on an easy cross off!  

 I started reading "The Oddysey" yesterday with the Ecclectic Book Club.  On the third book and liking it SO much better than "The Illiad."  I am also reading "Hamnet" with a small group and loving that one!  

Progress on Three Mysteries and My Favorite Books of the Year!

New Year's Eve (New Year's Day in New Zealand where Debi from mysteryquiltsanonymous.com lives) Barb and I started sewing around 2 PM my time.  Hazel was here and napping so I managed to get through clue one before she woke up.  Clue two was a SLOG since Hazel wanted to be near me (Bumpa had the day off and tried to entertain but she is used to me being with her and wanted to see what was happening in the room next to her) and we had to make fourteen blocks total for the clue!   

After Hazel left, I continued sewing til this second clue was done and I hurt everywhere.  I do not have the stamina I used to.  Into the tub I went and the mystery had to wait.

New Year's Day I got up and got to sewing the Merry Mayhem Ups and Downs mystery #146 at 9 AM my time.  Barb joined me a few hours later--she fell back to sleep!  I listened to my audiobook arc "The German Wife" and cut and stitched away.  Clue one (above) was simple and so I started working on R Trail clue six.  Clue two and three had us sewing the strips into these blocks.  I got that done and finished the prep for R Trail. ( I had cut and sewed what I needed to on NYE morning before Hazel came to visit).

The next to last clue was putting it into rows.  We had several layout choices.  I had made this pattern previously (Bonnie's) and wanted to do a different layout.  I chose this one and put it together.  I had to think on the borders--they can be two plain ones or more of these blocks around the outside.  Would love to add more blocks to it or to the outside since I have more left in the layer cake, so I did not add borders and decided to wait to commit.

Then I went back to Ups and Downs and completed these blocks.  After that I went to bed!

Here is Barb's!  

Today I got the last blocks made (below) and cut the setting triangles.  

Here are all the parts all stacked up.  The layout is really nice though it is on point and I just do not have it in me to lay it all out on the floor and get up and down to sew it.  It will wait.  

So my next sewing will be Bonnies' R Trail.  I laid out the first one to see what it would look like.  We have to make quite a few of these blocks and the next clue is Friday.  I am hoping to keep up, but we shall see.  

I wrote up my new UFO challenge sheet though I do not have many UFO's I put things that I have cut and prepped, the two new mysteries above, blocks that were donated to me, etc. so I can have a focus each month if I like.

I am participating the Rainbow Scrap Challenge again this year and picked out Log Cabin Love for my block.  I also plan to make some Butterfly Bush blocks--enough to make Lily a doll quilt.  

 I really enjoyed the book above (just finished it today) and am looking forward to the second book in the series.

Pretty happy with my books read this year.  I did not start CRAZY reading until about October so most of my books came at the end.  Here are my favorites of the year!  I somehow forgot one of the best when making this list from my Goodreads--"The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo." I already want to reread that one which is rare.

Happy new year!